Taro T

Wow. IF that article is correct, that would be a game changer and could get life functioning normally again a LOT sooner than anybody is predicting.

"Every precaution possible" is absolutely unrealistic and isn't in actuality "possible." Every precaution possible leads to people not leaving their homes for months. You say the rural areas aren't equipped to handle this, apparently because no one that lives rural has access to transportation to the big city where the hospitals are actually located. If that wasn't your reasoning, please tell us what it is. But, though "they aren't equipped to handle this" they also aren't designed to put large numbers of people in contact with each other every single time they step out of their domicile. It is a heck of a lot easier to practice social distancing living rurally than it is in a place like NYC. As an example, except for a weekly trip to the grocery store (2 primary we use, have gone alternating weeks to 1 of them to restock what we were low/ out of of) and the occasional trip to the drive through window, in the past 3+ weeks have been within 6 ft of exactly 6 people for all of a combined 10 minutes of anyone not family living in my house. We aren't even in a heavily rural area. But that isn't possible in NYC. And if we take every precaution possible on this, why don't we ban all automobiles and trucks because that would save over 60,000 lives taken in vehicular accidents every year? That would be every precaution to solve that problem. That it might leave to mass starvation in the cities and untold cases of dysentery when those same city dwellers can't get rid of their trash shouldn't be a concern, right?

It will be interesting to see if anything is left for sole proprietorships which have to wait until this Friday to apply.

Trust the SCIENTISTS, like Lady Gaga, dammit!

Yes, it does. Watering (lack of or over) were not the issue.

Of course, the flip side of that is that it has been widely speculated that once a person has had the COVID virus and recovered from it then that that person will have an immunity to it. IF the flu-like virus that ran rampant through Texas and other states in November was this COVID virus, it would provide a reason the outbreak isn't as bad there at present - they've already developed the "herd immunity" to it, reducing its spread now..

For the fruit trees, even having just single tree, you'll be able to have a good yield once the tree is mature (takes several years to get there) for stuff like apples and cherries. Pretty cool that you're growing your own. Good luck with it.

Have always had excellent luck w/ potatoes and never any w/ corn. Not sure of the soil pH or nutrient levels (the garden is decent sized for a home garden (1,200 sq ft) but working it is a hobby so don't go too crazy on it) but have the rest of that. Corn is one of only 2 crops I've tried that haven't been successful with. Was always told by corn farmers that it was because the plots were too small. And not too concerned about the soil conditions as we literally have corn field within a block of us in all 4 directions and pretty much any other crop does well in our little garden. If you're able to grow corn successfully on a 8' xv6' plot, then congrats. That is quite impressive.

Doubt it. But NOW is not the time to be hammering him on that decision. There will be plenty of time to review what decisions got us to this point and how to make better decisions to better handle (and ideally avoid) the next crisis. But the time for postmortems is when the crisis is over, not during it.

Unless he has a lot of land to devote to the garden, would stay away from planting corn. For whatever reason, unless the field is pretty substantial, the yield will be poor. The plants just don't seem to pollinate/ germinate well unless they're well surrounded with other corn plants.

No, silly rabbit, it makes you a part of a mafia.

An accidental transmission at the nearby lab is the most plausible scenario for how this started, IMHO. It would also explain the CCP's extreme slow rollout of what they claimed to have happened and the ensuing lies about it being contained and then it not being transmittable by hth contact. (The good old cya, which if it's the case would be another example of the coverup causing far more damage than would've been caused by simply admitting the initial "crime.") Any way of finding out if the lab director "disappeared?" If he did, that would all but confirm it came from the lab. (Thank God scientists never get caught up into politics. )

All for forcing reforms.

You remember what happened when the USSR didn't show up for a few meetings of the Security Council? Yeah, as long as the UN exists, the US needs to keep its seat on the Security Council. All for reforming the UN; it is horribly corrupt. But it would be foolish to leave it.

Viet Nam and Cambodia won't be the last stops on the cheap labor train. Venezuela is working its way towards that status and there are countries in Central America and Sub-Saharan African with cheap labor. If they improve their property rights, would expect those would be the next sources for foreign manufacturing. Which could help those countries reduce poverty tremendously, if they can keep the multinationals from lining autocrats pockets. Would agree that manufacturing needs to come back to the US. Will be interesting to see how much of it does come back. Expecting pharmaceuticals will come back. If cheap energy continues, could see chemicals in general coming back as well provided those manufacturers can get around/ overcome NIMBY. Not expecting much else to actually come back; hoping though that it does.

Dayum.

Sorry, the franchisors SHOULD be getting relief out of the "$500B slush fund," not out of the small business relief funds. If they get the money aimed at the legit small employers this will NOT help the economy recover when America is finally "back in business." But, the elected officials that supported the Kennedy Center grants and the like already knew that.

Well, in fairness, if he only watches MSNBC and they DON'T show his daily press conference, the staffer would have no idea of where he's at.

Wonder what kind of information about the crisis could've been had using humint in China? Would've been helpful.

Does anybody know what preventative measures are ongoing for the subway system in NYC? Looked for, but didn't find that info. It would seem that the MTA would have to be disinfecting the trains and stations quite religiously to keep that from being a major source for the spread of the virus.

The WHO, which is SUPPOSED to be providing good, accurate information about the virus crisis flat out said that shutting down travel with China was a BAD decision and lobbied for 45 to rescind the ban. They were still arguing against it at least until February 5. So, yes, the WH had necessary info to act decisively by the end of January. But in doing so, they were ignoring the advice of an organization that SHOULD be led by experts. And the WH was right, and the experts at the WHO were wrong. Should more have been done at that time? In hindsight, yes. But when China and the WHO had been lying and downplaying the severity of the situation right up to that point in time and beyond it, and THEY had the best info on it, it is difficult to say what exactly that should have been at that time as even the actions that were taken were decried as being excessive.

Testing vs proper hygiene, let's look at your case for testing instead. Ok, so you say up to 1 out of every 4 people with the virus remain asymptomatic. You also tell us that testing will keep a grocery bagger from infecting his market's shoppers. Is the bagger exhibiting symptoms of a cold/flu/Wuhan virus? If yes, wtf is he bagging groceries? He SHOULD NOT be doing that. Would him getting tested and then finding out 5-7 days later (which is what the turnaround time has been for all the tests except those being tested this past week) prevent people from getting the virus? Once he finally starts to self quarantine, presumably after getting the results back, as in this example he hasn't stopped working yet even though he's sick so we can't honestly expect him to stop working prior to being forced to, can we? Now, let's assume he's 1 of those 25% of the asymptomatic carriers. Wtf is HE getting tested when he exhibits NO SYMPTOMS? Is he the 100,000,000th presumably healthy person to get tested, the 4th, the very last? Where does his spot in the testing queue stand? How many actual sick people exhibiting symptoms does he get tested ahead of? Yes, testing him and (after 5-7 more days while waiting for the results) removing him from his job can help limit the spread, but, if people are being released from quarantine after 14 days of being symptom free - as most of the protocols are following, then at most you've taken this individual out of the equation for 9 days. Wasn't him calling in sick when he 1st became sick and staying home until he was better the more effective way of limiting the spread of the disease? Testing helps, but it isn't as effective as following proper hygiene protocols is. And it barely helps at all if good hygiene doesn't accompany it.

Nope, that wasn't the one. Guess there were at least 2. Was referring to a graphic photo of the subject of Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit" song. Quite disgusting and the poster was banned for it as well.

EXTREMELY offensive photos have gone as well, but can only think of 1 that met that criteria.